The automotive industry is past the point of talking about the disruption coming from demand for electric vehicle powertrains or the potential of autonomous vehicles, and well on its way to responding to those disruptions thanks to advanced engineering tec

The market's visibility to early quality issues has never been greater and will continue to accelerate. The extensive awareness creates opportunities for the prepared enterprise, and substantial risks for those slow to react.

By DE Editors

March 11, 2019

MSC Software now offers the debut release of the MSC CoSim engine that has been developed to provide a co-simulation interface for the direct coupling of different solvers/disciplines within a multiphysics framework. This version, V1.6, enables engineers to set up co-simulation models between Adams (MBD), Marc (FEA) and scFLOW (CFD) and it covers a range of industrial scale applications including washing machine drum vibration to fuel tank sloshing for FSI and MBD; moving diaphragm valves to nonstandard fans and pumps; dynamic windshield wiper blades to hydraulic actuators; and nonlinear rubber door seals to vehicle bushes.

Co-simulation provides a complete and holistic performance insight by coupling together multiple simulation disciplines. Everything from acoustics to multibody dynamics (MBD), to CFD, to structural analysis and explicit crash dynamics can be connected together in toolchains.

Co-simulation helps to avoid inaccurate assumptions and, therefore, leads to a better correlation between CAE simulation and physical testing. Co-simulation can provide a higher level of simulation accuracy with realistic engineering analysis demands inside real-world engineering design timescales, according to MSC Software. For example, to simulate a full vehicle hitting a curb with the lower control arm undergoing plastic deformation, it could take engineers weeks to finish one simulation if the entire system is simulated in a nonlinear FEA environment. However, with MBD-FEA co-simulation, engineers can capture the same level of fidelity in a matter of hours.